In the News (Wed 22 May 19)

The WarringStatesPeriod (Traditional Chinese: 戰國時代; Simplified Chinese: 战国时代; Pinyin: Zhànguó Shídài) covers the period from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Qin in 221 BC.

These Seven WarringStates (戰國七雄/战国七雄 Zhànguó Qīxióng, literally "Seven Hegemonial among the WarringStates"), were the Qi (齊), the Chu (楚), the Yan (燕), the Han (韓), the Zhao (趙), the Wei (魏) and the Qin (秦).

Early in the WarringStatesPeriod, Chu was one of the strongest states in China.

The WarringStatesperiod is usually interpreted as a time of endless brutal wars that came as a result of friction among the seven states and that this unfortunate state of affairs could end only with one state bringing all into one empire.

The wars that occured were not generally ones due to diplomatic or territorial frictions among the seven states but instead were wars stemming from one state attempting to conquer and control all of the states.

The wasteful and bloody conquest of the separate states was justified as an unfortunate necessity to end the era of anarchy, but the wars were primarily those of empire-building.

As early as the beginning of the 15th century, suffering and misery caused by natural disasters such as earthquake and famine often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt and taxes.

The Onin War (1467–1477), a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute of shogunal succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the sengoku-jidai.

The "eastern" army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the "western" army of the Yamana,and fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, after which it spread to outlying provinces.

The traditional date for the beginning the WarringStatesPeriod was the partition the State of Jin into HanZhao and Wei.

The WarringStatesPeriod saw the proliferation iron working in China replacing bronze as the dominant metal used in Areas such as Shu (modern Sichuan) and Yue (modern Zhejiang) were also brought into the Chinese sphere during this time.

This constant conflict and annexation of one state by another during the Spring and Autumn Period hastened social and economic change and had the effect of integrating people of different tribes and nationalities.

The consequence of this period of drastic upheavals, reshufflings and regroupings, what had been several hundred states were reconstituted into seven mega-states.

Qin, situated in the remote west, used to be a vassal state enfeoffed by King Ping for Qin Xianggong's contribution of escorting the king on his move east.

During this period a balance of power arose among the states of Qi, Qin, Jin, and Chu, although the small state of Zhou in the middle was still recognized as the nominal ruler of the Chinese world.

He said, "War is destructive to the people, an insect that eats up the resources, and the greatest calamity of the small states."11 Arguing that if Jin did not accept the proposal, Chu would agree and draw all the states together, Jin agreed in order to keep the protectorship.

During this periodwars became larger and worse as iron and even steel were used as weapons, and millions of peasants as infantry.

This period was a long protracted struggle for domination by individual daimyo and would result in a powerful struggle between various houses to dominate the whole of Japan.

It looked increasingly like war would break out right in the shogun's capital, and the Yoshimasa realized that if such a war broke out, the entire country would plunge into war because the shogun, occupied with a war in his own capital, would be seen as powerless to control regional conflicts.

So the WarringStatesperiod (which is the Chinese term borrowed by the Japanese in calling this period "sengoku jidai"), really wasn't a "warringstates"period at all, but a "warring warlords" period.

In turn this led to the stronger states declaring war on the weaker ones and annexing them regardless of the prohibition of such activity by the Zhou.

Historically, this is recorded as two periods: the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC) and the WarringStatesPeriod (476 BC - 221 BC).

Later in the WarringStatesPeriod, another legalist named Hanfei or Han Fei Zi who advocated harsh rules and laws was also an adviser to the ruler.

www.travelchinaguide.com /intro/history/zhou/eastern (1869 words)

The Period of the Warring States Eve of the Unification of the Country (403-221 BC)(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)

The Period of the WarringStates Eve of the Unification of the Country (403-221 BC)

The peasants were divided into groups of 5 to 6 families, the principle of collective responsibility was introduced; taxes and loans were created; sections of the population were transferred to uninhabited areas.The war of conquest continued, prolonging those already under way in the eve of the hegemony.

Conquered states were obliterated and turned into centrally cons' oiled provinces of the victor.

The world's top warring states period websites(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)

However, the WarringStatesPeriod was, in general, a period when regional warlords annexed smaller states around them and consolidated their rule.

Near the end of the WarringStatesPeriod, the State of Qin, based in modern Shaanxi province, became disproportionately powerful compared to the other six states.

Policy of the six states then became overwhelmingly oriented towards dealing with the Qin threat, with two opposing schools of thought: Hezong (21512;縱/合纵 pinyin: hézòng), or alliance with each other to repel Qinexpansionism; and Lianheng (36899;橫/连横 pinyin: liánhéng), or alliance with Qin to participate in its ascendancy.

Meanwhile, the individual states that had composed the Middle Kingdom were busy beating the crap out of each other; the regional rulers had given off calling themselves dukes or lords or hegemons or whatever and just went straight to the big title: wang, or king.

I believe the commonly used marker for the date in question is the destruction of the ruling family of the Qistate, but given that you generally record exactly when you've offed all your enemies, the lack of a really definite date is enough to make me suspicious.

These states' rulers proclaimed themselves kings, happily left our buddies in Loyang to tend the altars of grain and soil, and got to the serious business of trying to work out who REALLY ought to be in charge.

The Eastern Zhou is further divided into two time periods, the Spring and Autumn Period and the WarringStatesPeriod.

The Spring and Autumn Period occurred from about 770-476 B.C. During this time, the Zhou emperor steadily lost power due to the realization by the feudal lords that he was not powerful and could be beaten, which had been proven by the defeat in the west.

The second half, the WarringStatesPeriod, is so named because of the power struggle between the large states of China that were trying to gain control over the entire area.

In 476 a long series of wars began, which resulted in the emergence and consolidation of a smaller number of states; Chinese historians refer to the period as the WarringStatesPeriod.

These states include CHI (northern Shandong), LU (southwestern Shandong), SUNG (to the south of Lu), CH'U (a large state along the Yangtse valley), HAN and CHOU, small states along the Hwangho, CH'IN (southern Shensi), WEI (southern Shaanxi), CHAO (northern Shaanxi) and YEN (Hopei).

The state was centralized; chancellor LI SSU ordered the BURNING OF THE BOOKS; because of this act, Cheng Wang, who took on the Imperial name SHI-HUANG-TI, is remembered as the book burner.

When Confucius speaks about "the Mandate of Heaven" in the Spring and Autumn period, and when Mo Tzu talks about the "Will of Heaven" in the early period of the WarringStates, what they refer to as Heaven is invariably the Supreme Master of the World.

When in the middle period of the WarringStates Chuang-tzu speaks about the contrast between Heaven and man, and when in the late period of the WarringStates Hsun-tzu stresses the distinction between Heaven and man, they also mean boundless nature.

Yet, as a matter of fact, it is quite natural for man to evolve from a simple primitive state to a sophisticated era of civilization.

www.crvp.org /book/Series03/III-1/chapter_i.htm (2807 words)

Warring - The Warring States Period(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)

The period of the WarringStates (Zhanguo or Chan-Kuo) refers to the era of about The WarringStatesperiod is usually interpreted as a time of endless

Warring Worms is like an advanced version of the classic Atari game Surround.

The WarringStatesperiod (Sengoku jidai) lasted for the century from 1467 to Although a period of war and destruction, the late part of the Warring

The period of the WarringStates (475 BC - 211 BC) was a most magnificent page in world history.

The Saga of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty - the WarringStates, assuming tremendous momentum, reproduces more than two centuries of fierce wars from the end of the Tree Dukedoms Period to the unification of China by the First Emperor Qin.

All these fascinating personages and breath-taking historical events have been carefully sorted, compiled and written by experts in art, literature and history, and performed by celebrated performing artists of cinema and television.